Cosmic Love
by Lonyn
Summary: Lonyn Shepard and crew stumble upon a colony gone dark hit by Cerberus who are experimenting with the colonists. They find themselves captured and under the influence of a substance that creates an alternate world set in a neo-noir reality. The crew may or may not know each other, but need to work together to bring down the Cosmic Love's club owner known as The Illusive Man.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, I'm super nervous about posting this! I don't even know if this idea's been done, I'm pretty sure it has, but I hope it's okay all the same! I'm sure there are plenty of noir style ME fics that are totally awesome, and I know my paltry attempt won't come close, but I was inspired by Mayer Hawthorne's song/video Cosmic Love, and I couldn't get the idea out of my head!

* * *

"Everything's in order, Commander." Steve's voice rang into her ear. "It's just… Isn't this strange?"

"Yeah, very strange." Shepard frowned. The entire planet had gone dark. People were there, they were just… Missing? They weren't picking up any life scans, but there were no outgoing shuttles, no outgoing ships in the ports; just a large bevy of incoming ships, but no one _there_.

Any hails the Alliance had tried to make didn't reach, and strangely enough the Reapers were leaving this planet untouched. It was pretty far out on the Rim though; they had a small colony station here she didn't know much about, but it was a growing place. Apparently they were mining for Iridium and Palladium, of which they'd found rather large deposits. Thus they'd begun to set up a contained colony that would allow them to mine the minerals and allow the civilians and alliance personnel that were stationed here a more comfortable living arrangement.

It cost a pretty penny, but it was worth a hell of a lot more.

"I have a bad feeling." Steve said, his uneasiness exuding from the cockpit.

"When _don't_ you have a bad feeling about a mission, Esteban?" James quipped from the rear of the shuttle. He was checking his weapons one more time before they landed.

"Come on, Mr. Vega, you can't possibly think this _isn't_ strange? The whole colony went dark, there's not a trace of thermal scans from any people down there, and visual scans show no activity."

"Besides," Kaidan spoke up, "their surveillance is all shut down, not to mention there's been no incoming traffic being recorded, and the logs show there was no outgoing ships. Something's definitely up."

"Yeah, especially when this was one of the last things on the cameras," Shepard had pulled up a data pad for the three of them to look at. A Cerberus shuttle was shown docking in the hangar, shortly before everything shut down. "Cerberus definitely has their fingers dipped in this, in one way or another."

"Look, guys, all I'm saying is we can handle it. We've been handling their asses so far." Shepard gave him a deadpanned expression and he chuckled slowly. "Heh, I mean excluding Thessia. But that's Kai Leng."

"Who's been one step ahead of us this whole time." Kaidan mentioned, a sigh escaping him.

"He whose name shall not be mentioned aside, we need to find out what they're doing there," she gritted her teeth. Him besting her still grated at her nerves and had wounded her pride; not to mention murdering Thane. These were all causes for him being a thorn in her side, pain in her ass, and a grade A piece of shit that she couldn't stand was still alive. Reflexively she cracked her knuckles just thinking about the bastard.

"L—Shepard," Kaidan corrected himself. "It's going to be alright, we'll get him." He always called her by her first name, but they were trying to be discreet when it came to the rest of the crew knowing; despite the fact she was sure they'd all already figured out they were back together way back after the Citadel coup. She watched that tidbit being confirmed when she saw James try to hide the chuckle he wanted to release as he eyed the two of them.

"I know…" She responded to Kaidan.

Steve landed the shuttle outside the hangar; since power was shut down they had to get out and manually open the doors themselves. Steve sealed the cockpit and the three of them put their helmets on and made their way outside.

"Brr, kind of cold out here, yeah?" James remarked.

"Vega, your suit is keeping you warm." Lonyn remarked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but the temps are reading in the negative, there's only so much our armor can help with that."

"Aw, someone having trouble with the cold?" She teased, and Kaidan let out a raspy chuckle himself as he made his way to the panel on the door. She sidled up next to him as James took a moment to look around the entryway. He was also checking the specs of the place.

"Topside scans show that there shouldn't be any other entryways. I'm not showing any new ones having been built." James relayed to them.

"This panel still works, but it uses auxiliary power when they want to open the doors." Kaidan said as he opened a compartment on his Omni tool and took a wire from it, plugging it into the power jack on the panel. He got to work scrambling a code and Lon watched him with a smile. He was so good with this stuff. She could handle the basics, but she was just a soldier. She wasn't much for computer tech like he was.

Kaidan glanced up at her; she couldn't see his smile she saw the crinkle in his eyes. "What?" He asked.

She shrugged, "It's just always nice to see you in action," She raised a brow and he laughed.

"Okay you two, enough flirting, that's my department." James said as he came up to them.

"Alright, door's open." Kaidan announced, and immediately the three turned to soldier mode; all playing put aside as they flanked the doors when they slid open. Shepard peered around the corner scanning the hangar through her Black Widow's scope seeing that the airlock was already opened. She signaled to James she was going in and he was next. She slipped inside the door, finding a spot to hide while she continued to look around.

James glided inside behind her and stooped down behind some cargo bins, and Kaidan followed suit right after.

"Commander, I'm not finding any signs of life in the hangar." He relayed.

"Aye, aye, Major." Shepard switched to her rifle and stood as they made their way down the ramp taking a look around. "Hard to believe there's no patrols or anyone guarding this hangar." She remarked and the other two nodded in agreement.

"Since the life support is off, maybe they think it doesn't matter." James said as kept his rifle ready.

"I would think that too, but anyone who's smart isn't going to come in here without the proper equipment." Kaidan countered.

"Yeah, but you had to manually override the panel. No one with regular tech is going to do that."

"Unless," Shepard stopped as she led them in, "you're Alliance."

"You thinking this is a trap, Lola?"

"Maybe, it's still strange." She said as they found the checkpoint that led to the airlock which lead into the city. Kaidan posted himself at the door and began to override this panel as well. "There should be blood right? Cerberus came in and shot the Alliance soldiers at their posts."

"Maybe they stunned them?" James offered up and she furrowed her brow.

"Yeah, but to what end? Why?"

"Who knows with Cerberus. Look at how the refugee center on Horizon turned out."

"True, but stunning them and taking them… Where? For what?"

"I guess we'll have to figure that out," Kaidan said as the airlocks began to open. "The power grid is showing no oxygen or power flowing on this level. But I'm finding something strange on my scans."

"What is it?" Shepard asked.

"There's a power grid, and running oxygen; below us."

She could see James turn his head to look over at Kaidan. "What's strange about that?" He asked.

"That's not on the schematics."

"Do you have an entry to this area?" Shepard wondered as they began to walk through the streets of the town, flashlights beaming on their guns.

"Not yet. I'm working on it."

They stuck close to the building fronts, keeping their sides covered as they slowly made their way through the makeshift town.

"We should probably start with the main hall. It's where they have their headquarters, a mess hall, and it's the main barracks for the Alliance personnel that were supposed to be stationed here." Kaidan said and they continued forward.

"Hey, cool," James piped up, "They have clubs in this place. Cosmic Love? You know, I think I may have heard of that club."

"Something to keep the locals busy in their down time." Shepard commented and they came across HQ. She immediately stopped, turning off her light and the guys followed suit. There was a light inside and James crossed quietly to the other side of the door as Lon and Kaidan waited on their side. Once the door opened, she and James tackled him while Kaidan looked inside to see if there was anyone else. He shouted into his comm that they'd been compromised, so she sent a left hook into his gut to get him to shut up for the moment.

"Tell us what's going on here!" Shepard ordered, but as soon as they heard the words 'activate' wheeze from his lips they let him go as she shouted for them to move. The resulting minor explosion sent them flying to the ground as the guy's body was pushed backwards into the building. "Is everyone alright?" Shepard asked as she got up to survey the damage.

"I'm fine. James?" Kaidan called out.

"Argh, I think I got guts on my boots." He whined and the three of them convened at the doorway.

"I don't hear any backup coming." Turning on her flashlight she made her way inside and knelt down next to the smoking body. She popped open his helmet, revealing the indoctrinated husk looking face of most Cerberus soldiers and could see the comm was still working. "And I don't hear any radio chatter." Standing up the guys flanked her side. "Let's take a look around. The way down below has to be in here somewhere."

They moved throughout the facility focusing on the first floor and came up empty. "Major?"

"I haven't found anything on the scans yet, Commander."

"What about the holding cells? There's gotta be some right? Shit like that's pretty fortified." James remarked and she looked to Kaidan.

"They're down this way," he said and they began to form up and follow him as he led the way. Once in there, things looked to be normal. It was your everyday average looking jail, with a hallway full of holding cells.

"What's down at the end of the hall?" She asked as their eyes landed on a dimly glowing light and they followed the path towards it.

"It should be just an office."

"There's a lot of seals on that door," She mentioned as they got to it. Kaidan studied the panel, holding up his arm as he worked on his Omni tool. "There's an airlock behind this door."

"Can you get it open?" She asked and James huffed beside her as he kept his eyes on the hallway they'd come from.

"Lola, Lola, Lola, Major's got enough brains for the both of us, I'm sure he could get it open."

"Is that supposed to be sarcasm?" Kaidan remarked as he got to work on the door.

"Not at all, Major. I wouldn't tease a superior officer like that."

"Hah," She nearly snorted, as she watched the doors open and the hallway was flooded with ambient light from the airlock. "Nice work." They stepped inside and he overrode the panel inside to shut it and begin the decontamination process. They backed against the walls on the sides of the chamber as it began the process and filled the lock with oxygen.

The doors opened and they peered out, seeing the hallway devoid of any life. "Any heat signatures registering?" She whispered into her comm and Kaidan shook his head.

"Nothing in the area." They moved out into the hallway taking a look around.

"This looks like a standard lab." She remarked, letting her helmet slide back into her suit. The guys followed suit and they began to explore the chamber.

"Did they build this? Cerberus?" James asked.

"I don't know. If it's not on the schematics, then it looks that way. That or the Alliance was doing some experiments it wasn't cleared for. This is supposed to be a mining colony not a scientific research facility." She found an office and pressed a button that slid the door open. She and Kaidan went in while James stood in the hallway. She went to the computer, Kaidan finding another, and they both began to try and access information.

"This is weird," They heard James say. "Where is everyone? Why'd they let us walk right in?"

"I don't know…" Shepard frowned as she wasn't able to get into any relevant files. "Any luck?" She asked as she looked over at Kaidan who looked equally perplexed.

"No, no luck." The sound of gunfire had them all ready to go as they crouched down. James backed into the room and almost immediately the door shut, sealing itself off, while a mist began to spread throughout the room.

"Helmets!" Shepard called out, and they all geared back up, but their suits were screaming out a warning.

"My suit's been compromised!" James yelled, and Shepard tried to remain calm despite the beating of her heart. So had hers and she looked to Kaidan who confirmed it as well.

"The airlock…" He trailed off.

They shot at the window and Shepard switched to her Black Widow, firing off concussive shot after concussive shot at the door. Nothing was penetrating it and she took a deep breath as she charged at the door, slamming her shoulder into it.

James followed suit after her, but his motions were becoming slow as he collapsed to the ground. She could feel herself beginning to feel tired, dizzy, and she looked back at Kaidan bathed in blue. She backed up and as a last ditch effort he sent a biotic shockwave that blasted the door off into the hall, but he collapsed right after. She fell to her knees, trying to will herself to stay awake at the sight of Cerberus soldiers tromping into the room.

She struggled, gun limply falling as she fell forward. Her vision was blurring as footsteps entered her line of sight in the form of black blurs, and the last thing she heard was a muted and faint, "Ah. Commander Shepard herself."

* * *

"Shepard come in. Shepard? Commander? Steve?" Joker leaned back in his chair frustrated. "I can't get ahold of any of them. What the hell's going on down there?"

"It seems as though a storm has moved in. Communications may be limited." EDI quipped from beside him and he let out a disgusted sigh.

"Look, we've had weather problems before, there's _always_ some sort of garbled transmission, EDI, have you not watched any movies?"

"On the contrary, Jeff, I've watched many movies, however this is—"

"Real life, yeah, yeah, I know. It's just… I don't like this."

"Have you heard from Shepard yet?" Garrus asked as he came into the cockpit followed closely by Tali.

"No, I haven't. What you know something I don't?" Joker grumbled and the four of them were left in silence. "It's been radio silence ever since Steve said they made it inside. I didn't think much of it, until the radio silence spread a little too long."

"I should've gone with them." Garrus's concern mimicked the others.

"Maybe you should've, but calibrations were apparently a little more important." Tali teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm going down there." Garrus announced, and Tali nodded declaring she would as well. "Tell Liara to meet us in the shuttle bay."

"Alright, but we're going to have to land. The other shuttles are being repaired at the moment." Joker told him.

"Then let's get this show on the road." Garrus said and he and Tali began to head back towards the elevator.

"Do you think something has happened to them?" Tali asked, worry tinging her voice.

"No, no… It's Shepard we're talking about."

"Shepard died one time, Garrus. Or have you forgotten that?"

"Not forgotten, just trying to keep that buried in the back of my mind." He said back to her. "I'm sure they're fine. They're just in a void, I'm sure of it."

"I don't like this." Tali said to him. They made it into the shuttle bay while Joker landed the ship, seeing Liara gearing up once the elevator doors opened.

"This mission never had a satisfactory outcome." She said quietly.

"Did we all have a bad feeling about this?" Tali asked.

"Apparently. Shepard, didn't have a good feeling about it either, and I'm sure Kaidan wasn't far behind on that." Garrus told them as he grabbed his guns. Tali was outfitting her Omni tool and loaded up her shotgun.

The ship rocked, a pulse racing through the walls. "What was that?" Tali asked as they felt the effects of another pulse hit the ship.

"EDI?!" Garrus called, and they were met with no response. It was silent, another pulse racked the Normandy, and suddenly a white gas was spewing through the vents.

"Goddess, what is happening!?" Liara grabbed her mask, but it was too late. One by one they all fell, as well as the other Normandy personnel who'd tried to grab some guns. Garrus watched Tali, worry becoming him.

"Are you…" He started, but he began to fall.

"Garrus!" She tried to help him before he passed out on the floor and she looked around. Her suit was airtight, completely sealed, but would it affect her too? She could hear the shuttle doors beginning to open and she pulled Garrus behind the requisitions bench where Liara had dropped. "Shit," She swore and heard boots beginning to touch the paneled floor. She was about to send a combat drone when one of their own came around the corner.

A shock consumed her, and it was lights out after that.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alenko!" Kaidan looked up from the paperwork on his desk when he heard his Captain bark out his name. "I need to speak with you." He dipped back inside his office, and Kaidan promptly got up and made his way in there. He wasn't sure what the man wanted to speak with him about, and he was pretty certain he hadn't done anything wrong. Most of the guys around didn't associate with him because he was to the job, and did his job right. There were people in here he knew that were on the take with certain organizations, and Kaidan had a reputation of keeping his nose and hands clean of anything that concerned corruption.

Once inside he sat in the chair opposite Captain Russell who was looking rather perplexed. "Look, Alenko, I've got an assignment for you." He took in a deep breath, letting out a sigh.

"Sir, I'm already working on The Illusive Man's case. I've been trying to gather up intel short of actually infiltrating the club."

"Yes, about that. We're going to need you to infiltrate the club to gain more intel. But that's not what I'm here to talk to you about. Well, it's not the main thing I'm here to talk to you about. Word around the campfire is… Lonyn Shepard has begun to investigate The Illusive Man as well."

Kaidan let out a groan. He'd heard about Shepard. She was a staple around these parts as a private investigator; the kind that didn't care about bending to the point of breaking rules. She had the air of a cop apparently, but she was a cop on the edge of a very fine line.

"We brought her into custody, she allegedly tuned up one of his body guards pretty damn good," he shook his head. "Never seen a woman do that much damage before." He chuckled. "She would've made a pretty good cop if she wasn't so reckless."

"Sir?" Kaidan raised a brow.

"She was in the academy here about ten years ago. She's a strong woman with even stronger ideals. One of the recruits smarted off some remark regarding her ass and was sent to the hospital with a broken hand. She didn't even look pissed about it either. Looked rather pleased that the situation happened."

"Wow," Kaidan remarked. "She sounds like she's a… Handful."

"She had a long list of other red flags, but her determination to be a cop got her through. Until she continued to display conduct unbecoming of an officer of the law so we had to let her go. Have you crossed paths with her yet?"

"No, sir. I've only been able to conduct minor research. I figured the next step was actually going into the club."

"Considering you mostly police the upper district you shouldn't have much of a problem going in. As long as you don't… Act like you."

"Act like me?"

The Captain chuckled and Kaidan frowned. "Alenko, I hate to disappoint you, but you have detective written all over you. Anyway, we have Shepard here, I figured I'd give you the opportunity to speak with her, maybe she's in a sharing mood in order to get released."

Kaidan scoffed, "Right, sir. Knowing her reputation, I'm sure we won't get much out of her."

"Well, it's up to you to get her into a sharing mood. She'll make bail once we post she's here. I'm holding off on hopes her damn coworkers haven't gotten wind of her being here yet." The Captain got up and walked out the office, Kaidan in tow.

"Who are her coworkers?"

"A Turian by the name of Garrus Vakarian. Used to work as a sector security officer in Citadel before becoming a hired gun coming out here. Keeps himself pretty clean, and we've got nothing on him. She's got a communications specialist as well, Samantha Traynor. Smart lot that one is. She's usually the one who comes in to bail Shepard's ass out when she's here."

"Does she get arrested often, sir?"

"No, she doesn't. Just a few times over the last five years. We didn't make the connection, but I think she's been onto The Illusive Man for years now."

They stopped in front of the windows of the interrogation room, and Kaidan stopped as his eyes laid upon her. She was tall, sky high in the heeled ankle boots she wore. Those long gams of hers led up to a pin-striped, black pencil skirt with a crisp white and clean blouse tucked in. Her brunette hair, with flecks of lighter and golden browns, was curled slightly, tucked into a bun at the nape of her neck. Her expression calm, painted on a tanned olive face dotted with freckles and a peculiar scar that swooped from one cheek, over her nose, and ending on the other.

She was calmly walking, slowly, hands cuffed in front of her with bruised and bloodied knuckles, as she waited for someone to come in to release her. She wasn't worried. Not in the slightest.

"Your assignment along with getting dirt on The Illusive Man to take him down is to also shut down her PI operation. She's getting in the way too often now." Kaidan nodded, having a feeling he could probably catch her in the act of something irreparable that could get her business shut down. "She's all yours, Detective." His Captain broke him from his thoughts.

"Sir," Kaidan nodded and opened the door, stepping in by the cop who was guarding her. "Lonyn Shepard, your reputation precedes you." He watched her downturned lips quirk into a smirk. "Please, have a seat."

"Are you supposed to play the good cop?" She quipped.

"I can play good cop or I can play bad cop," he lied, "what's it going to be?"

She seemed to mull it over as she sat down in the chair. "I wouldn't mind seeing bad cop, but something tells me that's not true to your nature."

Kaidan didn't let her get to him and he leaned back into his chair, trying to slouch to give an air of ease to himself. He could see her icy grey hues look him over, her downturned eyes marked with interest.

"So, do you have a habit of beating up The Illusive Man's body guards?"

She began to laugh. "Oh no, don't tell me _you're_ the gum-shoe they put on this case? Daisy, please don't tell me you've actually gone into that club? They'd eat you alive."

He bristled at the Daisy comment. He wasn't a small guy, he looked masculine enough to look intimidating to most people. He may not have been extremely tall, but he knew without those kickers on her feet she'd be around his 6'1 stature and not more. He had broad shoulders, and he worked to stay fit and strong.

"Struck a nerve?" She peppered him again and he leaned forward.

"No, I haven't infiltrated the club, yet, have you?"

"Not yet, but I bet you a grand I can blend in better than you. Besides, I know people in there. I'm sure you don't."

"On the contrary, I do."

"Oh?" She seemed surprised by that, but he actually did know someone who ended up falling into The Illusive Man's circle. His private doctor Karin Chakwas used to be a good friend of his parents back in his dad's military days. She was lumped in with the wrong crew and was dealt the same discharged punishment that they had received. Falling on difficult times she did what she had to do in order to survive. He was hoping she could be his in, but he hadn't been able to get into touch with her just yet. "You going to tell me?"

"Why would I tell you that when you're not going to tell me what you know?"

"Perceptive." She smirked. "Look, we both know that you coppers don't have anything on me, because his goon ain't exactly going to press any charges against me. So we're just going to sit here and banter back and forth until my associate posts my bail."

He tried not to groan, but a low one escaped him. "This will go a lot smoother if you cooperate."

"Why should I cooperate? None of you can get the job done like I can."

"We could work together on this." Why, why, why did he just offer that up? He didn't want to work with this pain in the ass no matter how beautiful she may have been. She was trouble, pure trouble, and he could almost hear the vein popping out of his Captain's neck at what he just said.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Detective Daisy. I can handle him on my own, and I plan on it." A knock sounded on the door and Kaidan looked back to see his Captain, his displeasure rather obvious on his face.

"Shepard your bond's been posted."

She looked rather pleased with herself when he turned around to see her offering up her cuffed hands to him. Letting out a sigh he got up and grabbed the keys the Uniform posted at the door handed him. He slowly made his way over to her and she lifted her hands up to him. He grasped her wrists, skin tingling at the contact as he unlocked her bindings. They shared a look between them for a moment, and something nagged at the back of his mind that he knew her from somewhere before.

He shook the thoughts from his head seemingly at the same time as she and she stood up, showing the two inches of height she had on him in those shoes.

She leaned in, he didn't falter, "Till next time, Daisy." She gave him a peck to his cheek and strutted her way out of the room.

He could see the guy by the door chuckling. "That broad's got it in for you, Alenko."

* * *

"Shepard, you need to be a bit more careful," Samantha Traynor said as she trotted beside Shepard, trying to keep up with her gait. She had to chuckle at the shorter woman, who pulled her coat tighter to her person as the wind swept beside them. "Our funds are running a bit low with you only working this case. I can't keep bailing you out."

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry, Traynor. Was Garrus able to find anything at that thug's apartment?"

"I'm not sure, but you know the smaller fish aren't going to have anything important lying around in their homes."

Shepard let out a sigh. "Yeah, I know. But I could've sworn he was a bigger player. He was probably just the door man." She grumbled. They made their way back to the office and Garrus joined them within an hour.

"Hey, Shepard, did you manage to beat anything out of that Vega guy?" He asked as he sat down across from her.

"No," she grumbled, pouring a little whiskey into a glass. "Nothing. He didn't say a damn thing."

"Shame. Well, I didn't find anything in his apartment either. Kind of messy actually. Lots of eggs in the fridge."

"You looked in his fridge?" She asked raising a brow.

Shrugging Garrus leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms. "I don't know it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Well, I think we can rule out any chance of finding sensitive information in the fridge."

"I'm sorry, Shepard, I was hungry, I thought there might be something edible in it."

She was about to protest that he was a Turian and therefore human food wouldn't exactly be good for him, but Traynor came in through the door looking flustered.

"Uh, guys, there's someone here who wants to speak with you."

"You okay, Traynor?"

"Uh, y-yes, yeah, pfft, I'm totally fine."

"It's a woman isn't it? A pretty one right?" Garrus joked and when they saw Traynor's rosy cheeks they both began to laugh.

"Send her—" Lonyn started, but Traynor moved out of the way so the woman could appear in the doorway. For a moment Lonyn felt shock envelope her, though she was sure she'd never met this woman before. Her hair was a dark brown, curls falling to her shoulders. She looked familiar, and she found herself uttering a name. "Ash…"

The woman quirked her brow. "Yes, that's my name. Well, Ashley Williams. We've never met before how'd you… How'd you know that?" She inquired and Shepard shrugged.

"Lucky guess. Is there something we can do for you? I'm kind of tied down with a case."

"Yes, I know, that's why I'm here. I can get you into that club after your debacle with The Illusive Man's primary door man."

Lonyn raised a brow. "How so?"

"We've got a thing going. I'm trying to get him to switch professions, but the jackass is loyal to that bastard for some reason. I know The Illusive Man's up to no good, and I'd like to see him taken down as much as you guys."

"That usually comes with some sort of revenge fantasy for a wrongdoing."

"Maybe, maybe not." She responded to Garrus. "He's a bad guy and I think he needs to go down."

"What do you do, Ashley?"

"I write." She shrugged.

"For a living?" Garrus asked incredulously.

"Yes, for a living. What's wrong with that?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Nothing is wrong with that," Lonyn said. "How can I trust you?"

"I'm kind of your only in through that doorway."

"I can get in without your help." She said stubbornly, not willing to trust this newcomer so easily though her gut told her she could.

"Well, suit yourself. I'll be at the club tonight and I'm going in at nine o' clock. If you want in, I can distract him at the door for you to do so. This might be your best shot." Ashley said, and she nodded to them as she left her office.

"You going to take her up on that?" Garrus asked.

"What? You think I can't get in?"

"Me? Think that? Never," he said sarcastically, and Shepard leered at him. She was getting into that damned club, and she didn't need some broad's help to do it.

* * *

It was eight forty-five and Shepard still had no luck finding a different way into the club, short of finding a way onto the roof and going in from there. She was almost tempted, actually contemplated it for a solid five minutes before Ashley Williams sidled up next to her a couple blocks down from Cosmic Love.

"Well?" She smirked, and Shepard groaned. This woman was more like herself than she cared to admit and she finally gave in nodding. "Alright, try and keep a short distance so that way he doesn't spot you. I'll move in and work him up a little and you can slip in. I'm sure you're pretty decent at being somewhat unnoticeable despite the fact that you tower above most people."

"Decent? Dollface, I'll have you know I'm pretty damned good at what I do. Besides, I'm not _as_ tall at the moment. I wore flats instead. She lifted up her dress revealing a pair of silver flat heeled shoes.

"You're not wearing heels and you're still this tall?"

Shepard rolled her eyes. "You're wearing heels and you're as tall as me. What're you, 5'9?"

"Roughly, yeah," Ashley agreed. "You pushing 6?"

"I _am_ 6'." Shepard responded, touchy on that subject. She didn't like when people tried to downplay what she considered her best feature. She was six feet tall right on the money.

"Alright, alright, all playing aside. Do you have the plan down?"

"I'm not an idiot despite my outer appearance of a brute, I think I can remember a two-step plan."

Ashley laughed, "You're a riot, Shepard. We should get together sometime."

"I'm not looking for new friends. Besides I think your boyfriend might take offence to that considering I beat him up and all."

"Meh," She shrugged, "I beat him up too." That got a laugh from Shepard and she hung back in the shadows while Ash made her way up to the doorman Lon had nearly incapacitated earlier in the day. She opened the door, pulling Vega to her and giving him a kiss to rock the ages and Lonyn slipped past them unnoticed and into the club. She deposited her coat with the door man and her nose curled at the scent of cigars and seedy activity.

The air practically reeked with illegal activities, but she wasn't going to bust The Illusive Man on illegal gambling. She had to find evidence of a grander nature. Smuggling, dealing drugs, murder would be ideal. Not that she wanted to catch him killing someone, but that would pretty much put a nail in the coffin.

She made her way to the bar and smirked when she saw Donnelly doling out drinks, laughter, and winks to the ladies.

"Donnelly, I see you're still chasing after any broad that has the misfortune of talking to you."

He laughed when he looked her over. "Well, if it isn't the wee bonnie lass, Lonnie. You know you're going to get yourself killed in a place like this?"

"Nonsense. I'm just here to have a good time."

"That's certainly a load of shite, and we both know it."

"Donnelly, back to work." Another man from the opposite side of the large bar barked at him.

"I'm serving this woman a drink, Adams, get off my back!" He griped back. "What'll it be before I get my ass chewed out again."

"Scotch on the rocks."

"Ooh, you always know how to make my insides tingle when you order Scotch, love."

"Yes, Donnelly, I know." She smirked. He served her drink and she leaned back against the bar top looking out over the club. The stage was buzzing with a jazz band, doling out all the sweet, smooth tunes.

The canary on the stage was known as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and she was one of the most famous Quarians who sang. She was renowned, and many people came from across the country just to come to this club and see her sing. She was singing the club's staple, "Cosmic Love" for which the club was named. She swayed her hips to the tune and Shepard caught sight of someone.

"Oh, Daisy, you can't possibly be here. You're going to blow my cover talking to me, go away," She teased, and she watched his brow furrow.

"I'm not the one we should be worried about." He said.

"We?"

"You. You should be worried being here if Vega manages to spot you." She watched his eyes flit down. "Decided to leave those kicks back at home?"

She straightened and she was a little dismayed to see he had an inch over her. "It's to blend in."

"You're wearing a red dress and there's plenty of people staring at you. I'm pretty sure you're more noticed than I am."

"I see you staring," She smirked, setting her drink down on the bard, and he shook his head.

"No." He immediately said, but she felt him grab her hand and lead her to the throngs of people dancing.

"What're you—"

"Your doorman is coming inside." She chuckled as she spotted him, and she felt Kaidan move her head close to his neck and she turned into him. He smelled good, a certain spice and bergamot touched his skin and she breathed in the scent of him. Something told her she'd smelled this before, and that she'd smelled it before on him. Confusion touched her, until she felt Kaidan pulling the pins from her hair.

"Now what're you doing?"

"You should let your hair down. Look a little different than when he saw you last. You can hide behind your hair."

"Someone do a little research before gaining the courage to come in here?" She began to laugh as he ignored her quip placing his hand to her lower back, his other finally finding her hand. Their hips swayed together as they moved in small circles on the dance floor, lightly bumping others every few steps, but no one seemed to care, just enthralled by the song and their partners.

"You're a terrible dancer." Kaidan remarked, and Shepard moved her head to face him.

"I am not!" She protested.

"Yeah, you kind of are. You've stepped on my foot twice now."

"I… I did it on purpose!" She listened to his raspy chuckled and it warmed her, sending a thrill down her spine. "Like you're any better."

"Hey, watch it," he eyed her and she frowned. "Someone's a little sensitive about their lack of dancing skills."

"Or maybe someone's being an ass." He laughed again and she pulled away from him. The sense of déjà vu overcoming her at this conversation. She slipped from his grasp. "Vega's gone," She was a little dazed. She just needed to be apart from him now.


	3. Chapter 3

Kaidan moseyed his way through the club, hoping he'd find the one person he was intending to find by being here, but he wasn't having any luck spotting the good Doctor. He went to step outside for a moment to grab some fresh air and saw Vega was back at the door. He took a walk, pretending like he was going around the corner to take a smoke, and when he came back a limousine had pulled up.

A man stepped out the driver's side and Vega began to basically cat call him. "Ey, Esteban, how's the chauffeuring tonight?"

"Hauling precious cargo as per usual, Mr. Vega. How about you do your job, stop checking out all the senoritas, and make sure the boss's daughter makes it in alright?" Kaidan watched as the man, Esteban apparently, opened the door to let a young woman out. He stopped in his tracks as a flash of pain erupted in his head at the sight of her. He gripped his head, seeing a flash of something that faded quickly. The back of his head slamming into something hard, and he shook the odd memory from his mind.

"Whoa, James, who did you in?" Kaidan was brought back to the present as he heard the chauffeur speaking to Vega.

"Ah, Steve, it's nothing. Just got into it in the ring, you know how it is. Or not." The two men chuckled and Esteban, or Steve, made his way back into the limo and pulled away. He walked past James who was about to lead the girl inside and she stopped him.

"Wait, I know you." She said as she studied him, "I think. I don't know it's not so clear for some reason."

"Edi, let the guy be, he looks drunk off his ass, let's go inside sweetie, Ash is here too."

"Oh, good," She beamed, "I'd love to see her. Is Jeff playing tonight?"

"Edi, your pops told you to stay away from him."

"Father tells me to stay away from every man and woman."

"For good reason. Sorry, buddy, you go on ahead." James said to him, and he nodded, slipping back inside.

He wasn't sure where Shepard had gone off to, but he hoped she wasn't getting into too much trouble. He didn't want her screwing up his investigation. He roved his eyes over patrons in the club, plenty of people losing themselves in a place where they knew what kind of gig The Illusive Man was running.

He didn't show his face very often, but those haunting blue hues weren't something one could easily forget. Kaidan hadn't seen him in person, just pictures, and he knew he'd spot the man once he'd see him. He sat at the bar, sipping his whiskey when a hand was placed on his shoulder and he looked up to see her.

"Kaidan?" Her accent filled his ears, surprise all over it, and worry seeped from her lips. "What on Earth are you doing here?" She sat next to him.

"It's good to see you, Karin."

"You really should not be here, Kaidan, you have 'you know what' written all over you."

"So you know?"

"Of course I know. I may have been dishonorably discharged from the military, but that doesn't mean I didn't keep up with good friends and their whereabouts. Again, just what exactly is your reason for being here? You don't belong here!"

"You don't either." His eyes caught that young woman Edi, a man having come out of the door that led to the other rooms of the club. That was him, he could see the eerie blue glow from his eyes.

Karin followed his eyes and groaned, "Oh, Kaidan, no. You can't!"

"Karin, you know as well as I do that… Certain things need to be taken care of." She leaned in towards his ear.

"Kaidan, he is far too powerful. Please, don't do this. He has a network, people watching from any and all angles."

Kaidan was half listening as he spotted a man beside him, dressed in all black, black hair tied back. He didn't recognize this guy, but he looked dangerous. That was definitely The Illusive Man's right hand man, and he needed to dig up all the info on who that was.

"Who's that with him?"

"No, no. I will not be a part of this."

Kaidan raised a brow at her. "You know as well as I do that this has to stop. He's got too many fingers dipped in too many pots."

"Yes, including your precinct," She hissed quietly. "You will be in grave danger. And do not, at any cost, go near that man."

"Which one?" He remarked, and Karin glared at him.

"The man in black. Goodbye, Kaidan, you need to leave here now." She left him, but he wasn't about to leave.

He took his drink to the small table that opened up in front of the stage, intending to pretend that he'd come here just for the good music and Tali'Zorah on stage. The piano man was doing a great job as well, a colorful looking character who had grins and jokes in the lulls between sets.

He looked like a talker, looked like he was here for the love of the music. Kaidan felt he was a pretty good judge of character, able to sniff out people's intentions and whether or not they had good bones. He took a sip of his drink when he saw Edi pass by heading straight towards the piano man. She seemed interested in everything he was doing, asking all kinds of questions while he grinned like a puppy smitten and in love.

Kaidan smirked to himself. That couldn't be easy, falling in love with the big bad boss's daughter? That kid was in for a ride and a half to the stars above if he even thought he'd have a solid chance with the young woman.

He caught sight of a woman with James Vega, pretty tall in her own right with dark brown hair. He'd seen her before. He was almost sure of it. He racked his brain until it dawned on him. She was in one of the files as a known associate for The Illusive Man. She was rumored to be one of his security personnel.

She parted from James and made her way through the throngs of people and he groaned to himself when he spotted that red dress attached to the pain in his ass. Shit, she was going to get caught, and he almost flew from his table, having to stop himself when he remembered he had to let things be. He couldn't compromise himself because Shepard was being too reckless.

But he eased back into his seat, confusion draping over him when the two women began to laugh, heading over towards the bar to grab some drinks. Well, he wasn't exactly expecting that, but he wouldn't put it past Shepard to be walking into a trap despite how good she allegedly was.

He lost sight of the two women at some point, and he decided it was his time to go. He wasn't here to collect anything as of yet. Mostly, he was trying to scope out what the place looked like and who all was here. There were a lot of interesting characters for sure, and what part they played yet he wasn't quite sure, but he knew he'd be in for a lot of research tomorrow.

* * *

Shepard was pissed, beyond pissed at herself for listening to her gut feeling about Ashley Williams. The broad betrayed her, and not only that, left her in a damned alleyway after spiking her drink with something she was definitely certain wasn't legal.

She'd led her into the back rooms, intending to take her straight to the Illusive Man's office and that right there should've tipped her off, but she was too anxious to try and get her hands on some sort of ledger that she let herself be led back there. There was an Asari woman sitting at a desk, writing things down, and that's when things began to blur. She spoke, but the words were muddled on her ears and that's when she felt a crack to the back of her head.

At least she could've left her in some place dry, but it was freezing cold having sleeted over the night. She was glad she could handle the cold, or else she would've been worse off come morning, but she'd woken up in a dreary haze maybe a few hours later and managed to stumble her way back to the office; grumbling that she didn't even have her fucking coat.

She was embarrassed, pride wounded, and glad she didn't have more than fifty credits on her person. Those were obviously gone; who the hell stuck their hand down her damn dress to gather that up, she didn't know, but she sincerely hoped their hands had been cleaned when doing so. Everything else had been in place, but her fake identification card was gone. Obviously.

She was grumbling in her chair, listening to the soft sounds of classical music as she iced the pain in the back of her neck.

"Shepard," Traynor softly tapped on the door jamb and popped her head in. "There's um… There's a woman here to see you." Shepard pulled out her gun and Traynor put her hands up. "No, wait, no it's not Miss Williams. It's someone else. An Asari woman." She kept the gun in her hand, expression staying the same, and Traynor nervously grimaced. "Um, have trouble with an Asari lately?"

"Yes." She grunted, "Let her in, but let her know I'm not in the mood to be nice."

She could hear a soft chuckle and sure enough, that Asari woman from the night before practically floated with an air of grace into her office. "Hello, Shepard," She said calmly, like she wasn't pointing a gun at her. "I believe explanations are in order. Or rather the brief explanation that I can give you at this point."

"Yeah," Shepard's hooded eyes watched her, "there's not much of an explanation for drugging me and leaving me to freeze to death in an alleyway."

"Apologies, Shepard, but I couldn't risk you blowing our covers."

"Clearly mine's already blown."

"Not necessarily."

"Really now? How's that?" Shepard inquired.

She watched her sit down in the chair across from her, polished, dressed in the best, but not overtly flashy. Just enough to show high class, not enough to be gaudy. "I respect what you do, Shepard. It's not easy to be the little person's hope. You've brought closure and justice to families that the police couldn't exactly help with."

"Ah, right. So that's why you had me drugged and thrown in an alleyway."

There was a soft grin on her face. "My name is Liara T'Soni. I am the bookkeeper for The Illusive Man."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I need help in taking down The Illusive Man's entire operation. It isn't going to be easy, nor can I do it alone. I believe that you can help with this."

"Alright so… This still doesn't explain me being drugged."

With a slight giggle of a laugh, Liara shook her head. "I needed to get you out of there without The Illusive Man knowing you were in his club. Everyone already knows who you are, Shepard."

"Yes, I realize that, but who says I was in there to get dirt on him? I was just there for a good time."

"And having one of our associates take you into our office doesn't look exactly how it looks?" Shepard was about to protest to that, but Liara continued. "I'm running an operation that The Illusive Man doesn't know about. A legitimate operation. We help people, and the best way to get close to an enemy is to have them believe you're on their side and don't pose a threat. The quiet ones get away with a lot more than others. I've been working this for five years now. The only thing is, I run his books for the club, nothing more."

"Have you seen any questionable business?"

She shook her head. "Personally, no I have not. Only a small group of people know and fulfill his missions. A handful of cronies, if you will, run his side businesses to keep himself from looking conspicuous. It's a small operation, but he doesn't need a large outfit when he sells to a few clients who funnel him all the right money. He also has private donors, and he's got the club to make himself look legitimate."

"He's not untouchable."

"No, he's not. And if there's anyone who can take him down, Shepard, I believe you're the one who could do it. His main agents are the woman you met yesterday, Ashley Williams, and the man in black I'm sure you spotted. He's known as Kai Leng. That's all I can give you right now, but you have to trust me when I say this, stay away from Kai Leng."

Lonyn didn't particularly like when the cards were against her. She didn't like when she was given orders by unscrupulous people, and she certainly didn't like when her gut was also telling her she could trust this woman too.

"For now, you may want to trust your copper friend, Detective Alenko."

"What?"

"He's able to blend in a little better than you."

"Like hell he can."

"They're not concerned about him. They don't see him as a threat like they see you as one. You're unpredictable and dangerous. He's a goody gum-shoe that they think is a fool. He's dangerous too, they just don't know it yet."

* * *

Something told Kaidan he should head to where Lonyn's PI business was at and check up on her. He'd lost sight of her the night before, and he had a bad feeling that she'd gotten duped. He found it with ease and made his way up the stairs, typical frosted glass and 'Private Investigator' scrawled along the window of the door.

He knocked, and the sound of her associate hit his ears as she opened the door for him. "Uh oh, I swear she didn't do what she probably did." Samantha said quickly and Kaidan waved a hand.

"Is she alive?" He watched her frown at his question.

"Well, yes, but her pride may be a tad wounded. Is there something you needed?"

"I wanted to ask her a few questions."

Traynor scoffed, "I don't know if she's up for more visitors, but you're welcome to try. This should be fun." She let out a soft giggle and Kaidan walked to the back where her private office was; door slightly ajar and the soft melody of a classical music piece lilted from inside. He opened the door with a tap of his knuckles and he watched her eyes flutter open from her casual position in her chair. She was holding an ice pack to the back of her neck.

"Aw, Daisy, not now." She groaned.

"I really wish you'd stop calling me Daisy."

"And I really wish I had some peace and quiet."

"What exactly happened last night?"

She pursed her lips and flung her hands in the air. "I got played, because I got overeager." He chuckled, smirk splayed across his lips. "Stop that, you're making this worse."

"You should've been more careful."

"I am careful. Or… I was at some point I'm sure. What do you want?"

"I came to see if you were okay."

She immediately changed demeanors, smirking to herself and leaning on her desk. "Oh? Worried about little ole me, Alenko?"

"I didn't say I was worried, Shepard. I saw you with that woman, Ashley Williams, she's bad news, she's—"

"One of The Illusive Man's chief agents, yeah I figured that one out when I woke up, cold and icy and drugged. Spare me the lecture." They were quiet for a moment until Kaidan began to chuckle. "What?"

"Didn't exactly think you were the classical music type."

"Yeah? What type am I supposed to be?"

"Crazy jazz and Motown all over the place."

She shook her head. "Not quite, Daisy, I enjoy the classics. Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, Debussy, that's some of the good stuff." Silence again, and he was about to excuse himself when she propped her elbow onto her desk to lean her chin into her palm. "So your contact is the good Doctor?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play coy, I saw you talking to The Illusive Man's private doctor. She looked a little worried. I'm guessing an old family friend? I've looked into her records and she was charged with her crew despite not having any involvement. You think the Doc's going to be useful?"

"Is this us sharing information? Playing good cop, bad cop?" Kaidan quirked a brow.

Letting out a sigh she shrugged. "What do you know about Liara T'Soni?"

Both brows raised this time. "His bookkeeper?"

"Yeah, that one."

"You're talking about probably the next head of the organization more than likely."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking, except my gut tells me she's being truthful."

"About what?"

"She paid me a visit. Says she's trying to take down The Illusive Man from the inside, but needs help gathering evidence since she hasn't witnessed anything. She says she takes care of the ledgers for the club. She just keeps the books, keeps them safe, and writes things down, but she doesn't take care of any of the other stuff. This is me sharing information."

Kaidan let out a groan, "This doesn't mean we're working together."

"Oh, I think it just might."

"Hey, Shepard," His attention turned to the door where her coworker, Garrus, walked in. "How'd it go last— ah… Hey." He said uneasily when he spotted Kaidan.

"Garrus Vakarian, this is Detective Kaidan Alenko. He's offering to aid us."

"I didn't offer that."

"Well, I'm offering that you're offering that. Or I'll just follow along with you when you try to get back into the club. Take your pick."

He groaned, "Are you trying to get me lumped in with you?"

"Maybe. But if we work together," she started to sing-song, but stopped before she continued. "This might work a lot easier for all of us."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a migraine coming on. This was not the ideal situation; but something told him, practically screamed at him that he could trust her, should trust her. It was an odd feeling, but he'd already realized that he had trusted her. Right from the beginning.

* * *

Heading down to the gym, Shepard felt too wound up to stay put in the office. She needed to unwind; which usually meant she needed to hit something. Upon entering the gym, she wasn't surprised to see James Vega sparring with a fellow gym member in the ring.

She should care and walk out, but right now she couldn't care less. She went about her business and began to wrap her hands, preparing to either punch a bag or a willing partner.

"You here to beat me up again?" She glanced up to see James standing in front of her.

"Nah," She finally said, "you're small fish."

"Hey, I'm just a bouncer, alright? I know The Illusive Man's probably got illegitimate things going on, but I just watch the door, kick out unruly patrons, or escort his daughter into the back."

Raising a brow Shepard had a hard time believing that. "You're telling me you don't do any unscrupulous things for The Illusive Man?"

"Scouts honor. My girlfriend's been trying to get me to get a new job, because she thinks he's going to ask me to do something I shouldn't."

"Are you being serious?" She balked at him. "Your girlfriend is trying to get you to get a new job? Ashley?"

"Yesss?" He drawled out.

"Ashley Williams?"

"That is the full name she gave to me." When she didn't change the unbelieving face she had on, he began to chuckle. "Uh why?"

"Your girlfriend had me drugged and dumped in an alleyway last night."

"What?" He said incredulously, "No she didn't," followed by another light chuckle.

"I hate to break it to you, James," She stood, flexing her hands, "but your girlfriend's bad news. Femme fatale at its finest." She patted him on the back and went over to a punching bag, leaving him to a sad stupor.

"She is not." He said adamantly when he came over. "She's just a writer, hell she writes poetry and shit, she wouldn't do that."

After a few quick punches to the bag she held it to steady. "James, you might want to rethink your line of employment. It's a short chain to beating a guy up because he asked you to, then killing people because they crossed him."

"I've never done that." He said, brow furrowing.

"But your girlfriend has."

"No! Ash wouldn't do that!"

"Ask her then."

He blew out a sigh, "I don't…"

"See, even you're adamant about asking her. Because she has skills and you've seen them in action."

He scoffed, "Only because I went easy on her."

Laughing, Lonyn punched the bag again. "Did you go easy on me?"

"Shit, no. You're something else, Lola. You don't pull back at all."

"Lola?"

"I don't know, you kind of remind me of my best friend's older sister. Tough, hot."

She paused again, "Yeah, I get that a lot."


	4. Chapter 4

Letting out a whoosh of a sigh, Kaidan rubbed his temples as he leaned back in his chair, stretching his back. He'd been at this for hours now, researching the main players in the club he'd spotted last night and taking notes on just who they exactly were. He'd found out a lot about them. Some of them seemed to be just exactly who they were, and he wasn't too sure if they'd know anything relevant to what The Illusive Man was up to.

What he really wanted to know was who that man dressed in black was. He had a pretty good idea of who Ashley Williams was. With a little bit of digging and some connections to the Feds he found out she was ex-military. She'd gone missing after a mission, presumed KIA and hadn't showed up on anyone's radar since. He knew she was dangerous, and now that Shepard knew, maybe she'd take a few more precautions when dealing with them.

But he worried about the man. He scanned through the pictures of Ashley's squad members and didn't come up with anyone who looked close to him. He scoured records of discharged soldiers, gave the description to his buddy who looked into other covert op teams, and still nothing. This guy, so far, was a ghost.

A nagging feeling in the back of his head told him to ask Shepard. Maybe she knew and had failed to mention it? He could coax it out of her with all the information he'd gathered on the workers at the club. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Picking up the phone at his desk he dialed the number to her PI office and was met with Samantha's chipper tone.

"Hey, Sam, it's Alenko."

"Yes, I recognized the voice. You want to talk to Shepard?"

"Yeah, I need to ask her a few things."

"Uh huh," Traynor said suggestively. "I'll put her on." He listened to the soft click and entered being on hold until her voice came onto the line.

"Hi, Daisy." He could see the smirk on the other end, and he rolled his eyes, but couldn't help the smile that spread on his lips. He chuckled and he heard her breathy laugh on the other end. "I heard that."

"Yeah, okay, so what do you know about The Illusive Man's right hand man? That man in black."

"You're presuming that I know anything at all."

"Don't play me for an idiot, Lon—er Shepard. I know you know something about him."

"What do I get if I tell you what I know?" She asked and he groaned. "Hey, you started this give a little get a little thing you know?"

"Right. Alright, what do you want?"

"What do you have?"

"Shepard—"

"Okay, how about you bring over some takeout from that Italian place across from your precinct and we can talk."

He paused for a moment. "Food? That's your bargaining chip?"

"I like food." She said simply. "I'm a sucker for carbs, Alenko, so you better bring me something good. White not red."

He sighed, smile back on his face, "Got it."

"Later, Daisy."

Roughly an hour later and Kaidan was making his way up the stairs that were now becoming all too familiar to him. He knocked on the door and heard her muffled voice, and she finally came to the door.

She had a smile on her face and it grew bigger once she'd seen the bag.

"I brought breadsticks."

"Man after my heart." She grinned, taking the bag and leading him back into her office. He noticed Samantha was gone and noted she must've sent her home for the night. "I've got wine."

"No thanks."

"Aw, come on. You're off duty right?" She sat at her desk which had been cleared of most things to give room for the food. She opened her drawer and took out a couple sets of silverware for them.

"You keep utensils in your desk?"

"Yes. Don't you?"

Chuckling he set the bag down on her desk and sat down taking out a couple trays of food and containers of sauce to place on the table.

"I miss this place." She opened the box he handed to her, and she began to pour the alfredo sauce onto her capellini.

"Yeah, the Captain said something about you going through the academy. Said you broke a guy's arm." He said as he poured the meat sauce onto his own pasta.

"For the record," She held her hand over her mouth then swallowed her bite, "he was trying to force himself onto another cadet. So I took care of him. She didn't want it to get out, because unfortunately it'd look worse on her than him, and that was that."

"Oh." He saw her a little differently once more. She was a protector, something he probably should've considered her to be from the start considering she did help a lot of people. She may have gotten in the way of numerous police sanctioned investigations, but there were a lot of instances where she went where cops couldn't go and was able to get the job done. He could respect that. Shaking himself from his thoughts he went to hand her a breadstick before pulling it back and watching her eyes begin to narrow slowly. "Who's the man in black?"

"You're bargaining over a breadstick?" She straightened before beginning to laugh. "That's playing dirty. You're not the angelic gumshoe I thought you were."

"Well, when there's information to be had, I pull out the big guns." He shrugged.

"Bread first." She held her hand out and he gave it to her. "Liara told me his name was Kai Leng. Then proceeded to tell me to stay away from him."

"Kai Leng? Why do I know that name?"

"Not sure, but already I don't like him."

"Look, Shepard, if she's telling you to stay away from him, we need to play this cautiously. We shouldn't get too close just yet."

She groaned, "Yeah, I know… I know you're right."

"It's not that horrible to admit when you're wrong is it?"

"Yeah, well, I don't really feel like waking up in an alleyway again."

Kaidan snorted, taking a sip from the wine Shepard had poured him. "I hope you don't make a habit of waking up in alleyways."

"I try not to. So what did you get on our Cosmic Love workers?"

"I'm supposed to tell you more information? What do I get?"

"I gave you Kai Leng, that's a whole lot of information there. I'm sure you've got some connections that'll tell you all about him."

Kaidan eyed her suspiciously. "Wait a minute, you already know more about him don't you?"

Sighing she finished off her glass of wine and he found himself doing the same when she poured them another. "Alright, yes I do. Samantha is great at collecting information and remembered this guy we worked with who was an informant of ours. Garrus went to talk to him about it, and he said Kai Leng used to be in the Alliance military as well. He worked on some covert missions and went rogue a few times, and got lost in this explosion, assumed killed in action, and never heard from again.

"Since they were embarrassed by his actions on several of the missions and how they let it get out of hand, they expunged his existence from the Alliance records. He's specially trained in all kinds of fighting techniques and weapon styles, and he's also very good at tech."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Apparently so. I'm not worried about him, but he's the one we should follow. Or Ashley."

Kaidan chuckled, "I don't know, you may not want to get near her again."

"I may not have to," She smirked. "I ran into James at the gym today and we had a talk. He thought she was as innocent as a sweet sonnet, but he knows something's up."  
"Wait, you talked to Vega?" He quirked a brow.

"Yeah. We work out at the same gym. He came up to me and we had a chat. Bonded a little before we had a sparring match." Kaidan nodded slowly at her words. "What, you're not jealous are you, Alenko?"

He scoffed, "Why would I be jealous? So what, he forgave you for beating him up?"

"I don't know; I think he might enjoy that." She laughed. "If I continue to befriend him, he might just tell me more about her as he finds out her secret life."

"I seriously doubt that."

"Hey, it's something. We've got to catch Ash or Leng doing something. That'll be our ticket to taking down The Illusive Man. I don't know if we'll be able to do so otherwise."

Their conversation continued to flow, much like the wine as their meal was finished. Kaidan was growing more curious by the second about what caused her obsession with taking down The Illusive Man. "So what happened?" He finally asked. "What did he do to you?"

Her lips parted, a confused look enveloping her features as she tried to think. "There was… Something. I know there was… But for some reason I can't think of it…"

"I mean don't get me wrong, I don't need a reason for taking the guy down, but I was just curious. You seemed more hell bent on it. You took some risks and all."

"I know… He just gets under my skin. Now I'm really bothered why I can't remember what happened."

"Well, you have had four glasses of wine." Kaidan raised a brow and she began to laugh.

"I guess I have." He watched her take in a deep breath and sleepily smile at him from across her desk. A thought crossed his mind and he immediately staved the thoughts away.

"I should probably head out. Some of us have work tomorrow."

She scrunched up her nose and laughed. "I work too, Kaidan." He stood and she got up as well, following him to the door and leaning against the jamb as he stepped out.

"Shall I walk you home?" Shepard joked as they stood there together. Kaidan shook his head chortling softly at her remarks.

"I don't think that'll be necessary, Lonyn," he paused, staring at her, the urge to call her by her first name strong. To make her human, not to define her by just her last name which resonated with many who called her by just that. He placed his hand on her cheek, thumb running softly over part of her puckered scar and her cheekbone. Her light hues were haunting, right now they were slightly hooded from the amount of wine they consumed and the sleep that was nagging at them both.

The urge to kiss her was strong; like he had to savor every moment with her because the end seemed inevitable. The thought scared him, and he recalled his hand letting out the breath he was holding.

"I'll see you… Around." He spoke, and travelled down the hallway. "Be careful." He called back to her.

"Will do, Daisy, will do," she lazily said back to him.

Shaking his head, he made his way down the stairs with thoughts still nagging at him. Things just didn't seem to make sense lately, and it was beginning to bother him.

* * *

"What're we doing, Shepard?" Garrus asked as they sat in his car around the block from the club close to lunchtime. She was periodically looking through binoculars and he was growing impatient.

"I'm just trying to see if we can spot Kai Leng or Ashley so we can follow them." She said.

"Why can't we just go in there, rough some people up and do it that way?" He whined and she thought he looked like a pathetic puppy.

"Ah, come on, Garrus, you know you won't feel very good about that in the morning."

He chuckled, "You're just trying to stay on the good side of your detective _friend_."

"Oh stop, Garrus, it's not like that."

"Oh sure, you're saying that, but I don't believe it. The two of you were mooning over each other when I came in to your office the other day."

"We were not. Now you're just making shit up."

"Things about you that are not made up: you're a terrible dancer, a terrible driver, and you want the detective."

"Don't know what you're talking about, Vakarian. The Major and I are just being friendly."

"Major?"

"What? Oh, detective, you know what I meant." She waved a hand. She went to get out the car and Garrus grabbed her arm.

"Shepard, what're you doing?"

"Relax, I'm just going to go see if, I don't know a back door is open."

"You're not an infiltrator, Shepard, you're more of a stay on the rooftop with a sniper rifle type or let me mess your face up with my fists kind of woman." He said. "Stealth isn't exactly your strong suit."

She took offense to that, probably more than she should. "I can be stealthy when I want to, Garrus."

"Your track record lately has shown otherwise."

She pulled her arm away, straightening up an old coat of hers. "You were the one who was wanting to go in guns and fists blazing five minutes ago."

"I was joking, Shepard, I don't like what we've found out about this Kai Leng guy. We need to be careful."

"You know what, how about you go calibrate your guns or something? I want my damn coat back." She walked around the car, heading down the street and slipping into the crowd of people making their way and going about their business. She didn't know why she was so off her game lately, and it really bothered her. Just like not being able to recall moments that she knew were there, but seemed so clouded and fuzzy.

Like not being able to remember the core reason as to her investigation of The Illusive Man. He did something, and it was personal. A shoddy memory of her telling him to go fuck himself was prominent in a deep part of her memory. But why couldn't she recall anything vivid?

Slipping into a café across the street she purchased a mug of hot chocolate and a paper to peruse. She wasn't going to be an idiot. She really just wanted to get out the car and out into the fresh, crisp air. She periodically glanced between the patrons, trying to recognize any potential faces from the night she went to the club. No one seemed to jump out at her, and there was virtually nothing interesting in the paper to read.

She stared into her mug, swirls of whipped cream dancing as she slowly meandered her spoon along the inner walls. She could lie to Garrus, but she couldn't exactly lie to herself. She did want Kaidan, but not just a wham, bam, see you never kind of way. She actually enjoyed being with him, feeling as if she could share the entirety of her broken life with him. If she could exactly piece together the details she probably would tell him, but she was finding it harder to remember her past despite knowing she knew full well about it.

There was something traumatic that happened to her, looking up at the sky and the stars filled her with awe and dread in a single glance, and it caused her to question details until her mind fogged up and her head began to hurt. Something was going on. Something bigger than just this investigation. Maybe… Maybe it had to do with this investigation as well? She tried to brush it off; getting drugged didn't exactly help, and she tried to blame it on that.

Her thoughts were interrupted as someone sat at her table, and she immediately grew alarmed and was on full alert as she saw it was Kai Leng sitting there. Her hand settled in her lap creeped to her hip, resting on her gun and he shook his head, smirk settled upon his unsettling face. She hated him. She didn't even know him and she burned with hatred for him.

"Lonyn Shepard," he spoke, almost robotically, staring back at her behind a pair of black shades.

"Kai Leng."

"You seem to be doing quite the digging."

She contemplated her words, trying to choose them carefully. "Who says I'm digging about anything?"

"We have reason to believe you're running a private investigation into The Illusive Man's _legitimate_ business."

She resisted the urge to scoff. "I was only at the club for a good time and good drinks."

"Yet, you were inside his office."

She shrugged, "I thought Ash was taking me to the VIP room to have some better quality drinks. Maybe you should look into why she brought me into his private office."

Smirking again, he sat up straight, "You're trying to play cute, Shepard. It's not going to work."

"Are you worried about something, Leng? It sounds to me like there might be something you're worried about."

"A piece of work, just as your file says." He dug at her.

She shrugged again, "That may be, but I'm not the one accusing anyone of anything here. You're making me wonder what the reason for this conversation is."

He was quiet a moment, eyeing her behind his shades. She couldn't see his eyes and it made her unnerved. "You would do well to leave The Illusive Man alone. You would also do well to leave this town."

"Am I being threatened?"

"Take this conversation any way you'd like, Shepard, but know this; we know." He stood, getting ready to leave as he put his fedora back on.

"So do I." She smiled back up at him. "By the way, I want my coat back."

* * *

Kaidan was back at the club without Shepard, but with Garrus Vakarian. He wasn't exactly sure that it was a good idea to bring the Turian along, considering he was associated with Lonyn's firm, but he let it be and figured for now he was safe. They seemed to be more concerned with her than they were with him.

The club was all bright lights on stage in a dimmed setting; cool piano music filtering from the swift fingers of Jeff Moreau. Tali was hitting all the right notes on stage and he chuckled as Garrus was intently watching the Quarian crooner.

"Looks like someone can't keep their eyes off of Tali." Kaidan laughed, taking a swig of his drink.

"What?" Garrus sounded startled. "Oh, no. Nah, she's… No. It's nothing. I'm just admiring her singing. She's good." He babbled, trying to wave off Kaidan's observations. "Besides, why would a gal like her ever look twice at my ugly mug?"

"Don't sell yourself short. You never know. You could talk to her during the next set break."

"What? Why would I… No, I can't."

"I didn't think something like this would get you so nervous," He laughed again. "Do you do anything other than work?"

"Uh… Well… Not really." Garrus scratched at the back of his head nervously. "I don't get out much. Mingling amongst the crowds like this isn't exactly my strong suit. I'm more comfortable when there's a clear cut mission involved. Get in, get out, get things done."

"Alright, how about this. You go introduce yourself to her, and I'll make the rounds and scope out more people. You can let loose and have a little fun."

"Right…"

"All I'm saying is, you look like you really want to talk to her. So go do it. Now's your chance, and she's been glancing this way all night."

"How could you tell?" Garrus dryly joked.

Chuckling, Kaidan patted him on the back. "I wouldn't exactly lead with that one when you talk to her."

"What do you—" But it was too late. Kaidan had gotten up and went over to Tali who was speaking with Jeff after she stepped off stage.

"Hi, Tali Zorah?"

"Yes? Hello!" She greeted him cheerfully.

"I just wanted to say you're a fantastic singer."

"Oh," she seemed to beam, "thank you! I appreciate the compliments!" She giggled.

"Also, my friend over there, the Turian," he glanced over, and Garrus looked like he wanted to hide. "He wanted to ask you something."

"Oh did he now?"

"I'll just warn you now, he can be a little shy."

She chuckled again. "Well, maybe I should go say hello then."

Kaidan smiled as she walked over towards the table, and if Turians could blush Garrus would certainly be doing that at the moment.

"Smooth move, Copper." He glanced over at Jeff who was about to say more when his attention turned to something, rather someone who was walking up behind him. Kaidan glanced back and saw Edi, and quickly slipped away to let another couple of lovebirds have their moment.

He debated on getting another drink, and decided to head over to the bar. Crowded as it was, he figured he could possibly eavesdrop on conversations, and that would certainly be the best place to do it.

Kaidan was making his way through a group of people when he was grabbed and brought to a dark corner devoid of other patrons. It was Ashley.

"Look, I know who you are, I know you're a detective, and I know you're with Shepard."

"No, I'm no—"

"I know. You can't lie to me about it, I know everything. I just need you and Shepard to know this. I didn't want to betray her. I didn't mean to." She seemed desperate, trying to make him believe her. Truth be told, she didn't give him a bad feeling despite looking at her file and knowing with whom she worked for.

"You're a pretty good actress," he narrowed his eyes at her, pulling his arm from her grip, but she grabbed his hand again before he left.

"No, just listen to me, LT, I'm telling you the truth. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't want to be where I'm at, I swear. I… Please, just please tell Shepard I'm sorry." And with that last plea she was gone.

He felt sick to his stomach at seeing her desperation; guilt was washing over him. Should he believe her? Could he?

* * *

AN: Since this is a story from my Shepard and Kaidan's POV, I'm thinking of doing one shots of Garrus/Tali, Jeff/EDI, and maybe Ash/James after this is over? If that'd be interesting let me know (:


	5. Chapter 5

Just a fair warning, this chapter's NSFW. Smut. (눈‿눈)

* * *

The next day Shepard was back at the café having another mug of hot chocolate and nonchalantly looking at the paper once more. She had to figure if Kai Leng sought her out here, maybe, just maybe someone else would too. She didn't want to be too aggressive in this investigation, and she was hitting a dead end.

She hadn't found out anything, and she hadn't been able to track Kai Leng or Ashley Williams anywhere. It was frustrating, and it didn't help that her right hand man was out on a date with The Illusive Man's best crooner. How that happened she wasn't a hundred percent sure, but Garrus had muttered something about Kaidan being a great wingman, so she assumed this was his fault.

She had to chuckle, a smile becoming her as she thought of the detective. She tried to wipe it away, but she couldn't help herself. There was just something about him that was all too familiar to her. She liked bugging him, but he didn't seem to mind it as much as she had initially thought. She ran her index finger over a mottled spot in the wooden tabletop and stared at the back of her hand. In her mind she could feel his thumb rubbing over the back, a warmth in her hand as she cupped his cheek.

Her head began to hurt and her breathing seemed to cease for a moment. What was happening? She shook her head, inhaling deeply before squeezing her eyes shut and when she opened them up she looked up at a woman standing at her table looking at her inquisitively.

"Hello, Shepard." She sat at her table and Lon raised a brow at the intruder. She hadn't seen her before, that she knew of. She had dirty blonde hair cropped short to her shoulders and steel grey, almond shaped hues. She had a pleasant smile, and a curious nature about her already.

"How do you know—"

"Everyone knows who you are." She smiled. "I'm Edi. I'm The Illusive Man's daughter."

Shepard didn't let it show that she was now on full alert, glancing out the window to see if Kai Leng or Ashley were around. Shit, this couldn't be good. "Why are you talking to me?"

"Not to worry, Shepard, Mr. Vega is with me today, not Kai. At the moment Mr. Vega is keeping Ashley busy. I wanted to speak with you."

"Um… Alright." She was still a little apprehensive. This felt like a trap. "What's on your mind."

"You seem like a well-established woman, Shepard. I was curious about some things. I try to ask Ashley about some of them, but she isn't exactly forthcoming about her relationship, and I didn't want her to know my… feelings for Jeff."

Shepard was confused, more than confused. "And… How exactly am I supposed to play into this increasingly odd and uncomfortable conversation?"

"Well, Ashley told me that you and the detective were together. I wondered how you make that work considering your somewhat opposing lines of work."

Shepard let out a cough, choking on air it appeared, "Whoa, wait what?" She began to laugh. "No, we're not together like that." She laughed harder.

"It appears you're trying to hide the fact that you like him. It would seem quite obvious you do hold feelings for him. Ashley said you two danced together; that it was very… cute."

Groaning, Lon leaned back in her chair, hand to her forehead. "Are we really having this conversation?"

"If you do not mind, yes, I would very much like to get your advice."

"I do mind, and I have no advice to give." Edi frowned and Shepard groaned again. "Look, if you like someone go get them. Do what you can to be with them. Your father isn't exactly the most… angelic person, so be careful."

"I know that, Shepard. Hm… Jeff seems to like comedy a lot. Perhaps we can go to a comedy club together? It will be dark, I'm sure we could slip in unnoticed."

"Sounds like you have a plan. Now, I should go. Now. Yeah." She got up, putting her coat and hat on, about to high tail it out of this awkward conversation.

"Shepard, wait," Edi beckoned and she stopped before she got too far. "You need to fight it."

"Fight what?"

"You'll know soon enough."

Shepard narrowed her eyes before she spotted Ashley and James across the street. She quickly made her way out of the café and booked it down the street. This case was getting far too strange for her liking. Why did all of these people she only just met keep feeling so damned familiar to her?

She wandered around town for the day, trying to clear her thoughts and enjoying the cool air touching her skin. Night was falling around the city, and she figured she ought to head back to her place, which was actually the loft above her PI business. She finally entered her building and trotted slowly up the narrow stairwell, stopping just to glance at her door down the hallway when she got to her business's floor.

She stopped in her tracks before moving on. The door was ajar. Samantha wouldn't have left it open, and she certainly wouldn't have left it unlocked when she left. She pulled her gun out and creeped down the hall towards her office and stopped at the door to listen, hearing nothing. She noticed the broken lock and wood and eased the door open to slink inside.

Drawers were open, papers strewn on Samantha's desk. Her office door was open as well and she moved inside to see the same scene. She stood quietly for a moment and heard light footsteps upstairs. She quickly made her way out, glancing beyond the door frame before she went into the hallway and back up the stairs.

Making it to the next level she crept down to her door, seeing it open as well. Standing outside she waited, hearing nothing, knowing that whomever was in there was waiting for her like she was waiting for them. She stood still, unwavering; if they were going to leave and come this way she wasn't moving from this spot.

But she faintly heard the sound of her window opening to the fire escape outside and she silently cursed herself. She didn't want them to get away either. She kneeled, looking around the corner, then moved inside glancing around the darkened expanse. She held her breath as she slowly moved inside, inching along, gun out and ready to fire.

She paused, listening, then quickly ducked and felt a sweep of air travel over her head. She moved her gun towards the assailant and her gun went flying from her hands and across the floor. She rolled back away from them, trying to get a good look at who she was dealing with, and in a blur saw Kai Leng coming at her.

She moved her arm up, blocking his kick with her forearm and aggressively moving in to send a punch his way. He was fast, way too fucking fast, but he was thinner, maybe she was stronger. She felt his fist connect to her side and she grabbed his hand, elbowing him in the chest and he stumbled back away from her.

He seemed a little shocked, but smirked all the same. "You think you can beat me?" He taunted, and she said nothing. This was serious; there was no room for jokes.

He moved back towards her, and she traded punches with him, connecting a body blow, but he did the same. She was breathing heavy, so was he, and he moved in once again, but she was too late to see the glint of silver in the moonlight filtering into her apartment.

Sharp pain sliced into her side at her waist, and she managed to kick him in the gut before he came back to slice her again. She felt the blood seeping down her side, soaking her shirt, but she didn't have time to worry about the wound when he was coming back at her.

She managed to slip under his sword arm, grabbing it before roughly connecting her fist to his throat. He gasped, wheezing, and she was able to run for the front door as he crashed through the window of her fire escape. So it'd be a draw, but she knew she couldn't stay here despite him fleeing. She didn't want to call the cops, so she hurriedly closed her door and fled from her apartment.

The cold air was welcome on her heated body, but stung her still bleeding wound. She had to make it to Kaidan's. She just… She felt that was the safest place to be and that's where she was determined to go.

It seemed like hours, it probably was, but she was finally at his door, and she rested against it, trying to catch her breath. She knocked; no answer, so she placed her ear to the door and listened. She could faintly hear running water and she muttered to herself. Drawing in a shaking breath, she kneeled down to the floor, pulling out the small tool pouch from the inside of her coat. She had to see him. More than anything she wanted to see him.

* * *

The steam of his shower felt good on his skin after another long day of research. He was having a hard time tracking down who this Kai Leng guy was and getting more information on him than what Lonyn had already given him. There wasn't a lot on him. According to the military records he managed to get his hands on through a buddy of his who was able to open the records, like she said, he was KIA, but clearly that hadn't been the case. He sure hoped Shepard had enough sense to stay away from him in the time being. Judging by his training and the missions he was assigned he knew he was extremely skilled, extremely dangerous, and lethal.

He finished rinsing off the suds he'd lathered on his body, running his hands through his hair before grabbing his towel and drying himself off. Pulling back the curtain he nearly jumped, almost causing himself to slip, when he saw Shepard was leaning against the doorway.

"Well, Daisy, you're actually not half bad." She smirked, before slipping to the floor. She was clutching her side, ribbons of red staining her worn trench coat.

"Shit, Lonyn, what the hell happened?" He wrapped the towel around his waist before grabbing another from his shelf and moved her so he could open her coat and examine what was going on. He lifted her shirt, seeing a sizable slice along her waist. He pressed the towel into her side, helping her up and bringing her into the kitchen. He helped her to sit on the table.

"Well, to put it in simple terms, Kai Leng's a goddamned bastard," her breathing hitched in her throat as he resituated his hand. "Sorry to ruin your shower. We could always hop in together and get cleaned up." She tried to chuckle.

"I told you not to go after him."

"Hey," She protested, "I didn't go after him. He came after me." She gritted her teeth and he looked her over, her skin no longer tanned, but pallor.

"We need to get you to the hospital." He quickly told her and she shook her head.

"No, no, we don't. I'm sure you can patch me up."

"Lonyn, I'm a detective not a doctor." He said plainly, but she didn't budge. "Alright fine, I know someone I can call." He went to the phone, dialing the only doctor he knew. He could hear Shepard in the background asking him what the hell did he think he was doing, but Karin said she would come, and he trusted her despite her ties.

"Are you mad, Kaidan? She's his doc, she's not going to help."

"Karin will help. I know she will." He checked her wound, the blood loss looking like it was slowing down. It was a clean cut, not deep enough to cut open her insides, but deep enough that he could see tears in her muscles. This wouldn't be a fun healing process for her unless Karin had that new state of the art medigel with her. He told her it was a bad knife wound, so hopefully she had access to the stuff. That would significantly help the healing process.

"So why'd you come here?"

"I didn't want to compromise my associates."

He scoffed, "So you decided to lead Kai Leng here?"

"I don't know; I don't think they're dumb enough to touch a cop just yet."

"Or they're smart enough that they will. This isn't good, Lonyn."

She narrowed her eyes in pain. "Shit," she swore again. "I didn't really think they knew where I lived."

"Where do you live exactly?" Kaidan asked, just trying to keep her talking, awake, and alert.

"What is this, share and tell hour, Major?" She quipped and he stared down at her, something nagging at him like the first day they'd met.

"Why'd you call me Major?"

"What? I did?" She shook her head, "I don't know, did I?"

He shook his head too, maybe he was hearing things. A knock on his door roused him and he quickly went over hearing 'it's Karin' from the other side. He opened the door and let her in, coat buttoned all the way up to a scarf covering part of her face, hat covering much of her head.

"Kaidan this is extremely dangerous; do you realize that?"

"I know, Karin, but I didn't know who else to—" he saw her eyes glance down and he realized he hadn't put on any clothes yet. "Sorry, I was in the shower when she popped in on me."

"Uh huh." She drawled slowly and he rolled his eyes as she made her way over to Shepard who'd taken to lying on his table. While she got to work tending to Shepard he went back into the bathroom to jump back into the shower to quickly rinse off the blood she'd gotten on him. Once done he grabbed another new towel and went to his room, dressing himself and seeing if Karin had made any progress.

"How is she?" He asked.

"Stubborn," Karin groused, "but the medigel is taking to the wound quite nicely. She'll probably be sore for the next few days, but other than that she'll be fine. She needs to rest to recoup some of the blood loss. Do I need to warn you about staying away from the club and Kai Leng?"

"But, Karin, we could be close to taking him down. You could help us with that."

"Kaidan, I don't have access to anything incriminating on the man. I go in when someone is sick or needs patching up. That is all I do."

"You would've had to have seen something." He saw something flit over her features but she shook her head.

"No, I haven't."

"Karin—"

"Why does everyone call me by my first name? It's so strange." She furrowed her brow then shrugged it off. "Kaidan, I'm sorry, I can't help you. I wish I could, but I can't. Stay away from the club, and stay away from Kai Leng. The Illusive Man isn't stupid enough to kill a cop who's working a case against him, but he has ways of making people disappear. Be careful. I'll see myself out." Kaidan was perplexed. They were at a dead end and if he knew Lonyn well enough by now he knew she'd run straight at Kai Leng and The Illusive Man. He did something to her. This was all too personal for her to not be seeking some sort of revenge, and he thought maybe she was lying to him when she said she couldn't remember.

He was going to ask her that, but she was passed out on his table, shirtless, though Karin had cleaned her up. Her wound didn't look bad anymore, just a sliver of red across her waist; her black, lacy bra didn't look bad either. He groaned, grabbing a glass and pouring a shot, knocking it back before taking a towel to soap up and scrubbing the rest of her clean. When he was done he scooped her tall form into his arms where he carried her into his room, settling her down into the bed. He took her boots off, and maneuvered those long gams under the covers. He pulled the blankets over her and let her be, heading to his closet to grab another blanket for himself.

He went back over to the bed and grabbed a pillow and stopped to stare at her peaceful form. Something told him to get in the bed with her; and he couldn't fight the feeling that it was normal for him to lie by her side. Why?

"Screw it, this is my bed." He grumbled and lifted the covers up, sidling in beside her. He'd placed her close to the other side, so there was enough room for him to get in as well.

"I couldn't leave you behind, Kaidan," he heard her murmur in her sleep and that struck a chord. A sadness panged at him, but he couldn't recall why. Leave him behind… But she never had? Why would she anyway? _When_ would be the more proper question. His head began to hurt and he grimaced at the oncoming migraine. Hopefully he could get to sleep before it flared up.

* * *

When Lonyn woke it wasn't quite morning and she vaguely recalled that she'd been sliced by a goddamned sword maybe ten hours prior. Shaking her head, she hated that Leng had gotten the better of her. Lifting the covers enough to look down at her waist, she spotted only a thin scar by her side. Wow, Dr. Chakwas had done a pretty damn good job of patching her up, but something told her she always did. Why did she feel like this wasn't the first time the woman had tended to her wounds? It was a strange feeling, one of many she'd begun to get lately.

She glanced over, seeing Kaidan's bare back facing her as he lay on his side. She found herself running her hand over his shoulder, an action she'd never once committed in this fashion with him, but it was mechanical, like she'd done this several times before. She didn't stop, and she listened to his groan as he rolled to his back to face her.

"Hey," she said softly, and he smiled up at her.

"Hey," he repeated back to her, his hand finding hers where it had smoothed its way to his chest. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand and she found her heart beating wildly. This was so familiar to her, so real, and she leaned down to press her lips to his. His other hand smoothed its way into her hair and he kissed her back with just as much fervor. 'Why did this feel so right?' Looped over and over in her mind, but she couldn't stop herself, couldn't help but slip her tongue inside his mouth to taste the remnants of whiskey he must've drank before bed.

"Kaidan," she breathed, kissing down his chin to his neck before she slid her hand into his underwear. He groaned when she touched him, length hardening in response, and he grabbed her hand, moving over top of her to pin her back to the bed. He pulled the straps from her shoulders, while he wedged his hands underneath her to unclasp her bra tossing it aside so he could press his mouth to her nipple, sucking as he listened to her breathy moan.

Her back was arching, chest pressing into his face as her hands dug into his hair. He palmed her other breast and enjoyed the soft gasps that he managed to elicit from her. She was beautiful, but he found he was only reiterating a thought that had occurred to him since the day he met her four years ago. Four years? The thought quietly slipped from his mind when she moaned beneath him, shimmying out of her pants. He was kissing back up her throat, focusing on her neck when he felt her arms stretch to tug down his underwear. Dazed, he leaned back, pulling them off before settling back into her.

"Lonyn," he groaned his cock sliding over her slick folds and he nearly faltered at feeling her so ready. Before he could reach his hand down, she'd grabbed him and led him to her entrance where he began to slide slowly into her.

She dug her head back into the pillow at feeling him inside her. It felt amazing, so familiar, and she dragged her fingers down his back until she reached his ass, pulling him to hilt himself inside her.

The gasp from his mouth was audible in her ear as he buried his face in her neck and she could barely catch her breath at feeling him within her. She bucked her hips into his and he finally began to pull out and thrust back into her, creating a harried pace that the both of them were fighting to control.

She let Kaidan win out wanting to feel what he could do and when he developed a steady rhythm it felt so right. He brought his lips to hers, hips still rocking into her, and she tried to kiss him back before she couldn't help moaning out the pleasure he was causing them. She wanted more, and as if he read her mind she felt his thumb find her clit which racked her body with a swift wave that clouded her mind before she was brought back to his rough and pleasing thrusts.

He didn't stop, and she was beginning to come undone just as his thrusting was beginning to falter. He was moaning with her, and finally she clamped down on him, her walls squeezing him to come as he rocked back into her one more time, grunting out his release. She was milking him, pulling him tighter, and he couldn't catch his breath as he finally lifted just enough to push her hair back over her forehead. He cupped her cheek; she was absolutely stunning with her head thrown back, eyes still shut, and a breathy smile on her lips.

He kissed her again, not wanting to leave this moment, but they finally broke apart to fully catch their breath. He moved to her side and he watched the rise and fall of her chest until she rolled over to face him, just to press her lips back to his.

She pulled back from him, and they looked into each other's eyes before she settled into his embrace, listening to the beat of his heart in his chest before it calmed her senses and she fell asleep in his arms.


End file.
